Accurate aiming in archery/cross bow and bow hunting of game is highly desired. Efforts have been made to utilize lasers to assist the user in improving aiming accuracy. One such attempt is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,134,793 to Sauers. The '793 patent discloses a laser aided alignment system wherein a laser tip is placed on an arrow shaft and the user can adjust the bow's sights to correspond to the projection of the laser on a given target. However, the laser tip disclosed in the '793 patent is only for alignment of the bow sight. It is not for aiming a shot and is not for being shot from the bow as a projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,231,721 to Minica et al. discloses a laser projecting arrowhead that can be shot as a projectile. However, the aperture through which the laser projects is offset from the center axis of the arrow. Thus, the laser beam projected on the target will not correspond to the exact spot that the tip of the arrow will first contact. The '721 patent also does not disclose any method or means for turning the laser beam on or off. Thus, the battery may be more quickly drained and the beam could be unintentionally aimed in potentially dangerous directions, such as at aircraft or other persons, while the user is on the move.
Other attempts to improve sighting relate to the sighting system. Archery sights today typically include a mechanical device mounted on a bow that has one or more pins that an archer looks across at a target to properly aim the bow. Sometimes the pins include an optic fiber that illuminates to make the pin stand out in the archer's view. In addition, some sights include a peep sight mounted to the bowstring that gives the archer two points to align, one on the bowstring and one on the sight mounted to the bow. This typically improves sighting accuracy up to 20%. The angle at which an archer holds a bow to hit a target varies based on the distance of the archer from the target and the speed of the bow (e.g., in feet per second). Sights often account for this by included several mechanical pins, each dedicated to a particular range (e.g., 10-25 yards, 25-50 yards, and so forth).
Unfortunately, modern sights have several drawbacks. For example, they are often heavy mechanical devices that weigh down the bow and increase archer fatigue, which may decrease shot accuracy over time. In addition, fiber optic pins often bend or break, resulting in decreased accuracy and ultimately replacement of the sight. Moreover, even upon making a great shot, an archer often has difficulty locating the arrow. Not only may the arrow have strayed from where the archer aimed it, but the arrow may also have hit an animal or other moving target that changes position after the shot. Also, the archer is unable to adjust the sights with precision and in real time to match the flight performance of the actual arrow.
For example, there have been several suggested solutions that employ an augmented reality display that can impose over a generated view of the downrange target with, at least, an appropriate reticule superimposed over the display of the downrange target for the purpose of suitably isolating and marking the target without reference to an actual hardware embodiment of pins or, alternately, a network of fine lines, wires, or the like placed in the focus at the eyepiece of an optical instrument placed at the focus. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,162,806 entitled “Video Sighting System’ granted to Swiggart on Jan. 16, 2007 envisions a video display and camera on a single mount such that the video display simply portrays what would be ordinarily visible to the eye from the general area of the rest. By overlaying mechanical pins, the sight performs much as it might without the video system.
Therefore, there remains a need to provide an improved arrow sighting system.